FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
Hi
I'm completely new to the aquarium hobby, let alone salt water reef tank, but am thrilled to get started. I'm going to look at a few tank set-ups that I've found on Craigslist tomorrow and wanted to run them by you guys for feedback first! Ideally, I'm aiming to get a 75-90g tank with a sump and skimmer set-up, and that has proper lighting for corals so that I can try some of them down the road. I've read enough to know how important taking my time and getting the proper set up is to being successful, but feel pretty illiterate when it comes to the different brands/types of equipment!
Here's the first potential set-up for $550 (copied from CL ad):
This set includes: 90 gallon glass aquarium, canopy, stand, wet/dry filter system, emergency backup (Hurrican Category 5 model) air diffuser, 2 termometers, moon lighting (Blue light), floating hydrometer. Canopy light (replacement bulb needed). Also INCLUDED in this pice a 45 gallon hexagon tank. This is great for a medical tank. It comes with its own filter system (Marineland Penguin) and lighting system.
The second one for $400 (I can't find the ad right now):
75g tank with solid oak stand, hood, lights (no moon lights), sump (2 years old), 2 heaters & skimmer (1 year old), and some live rock (can't recall how many lbs, but the guy says he paid around $300 for the live rock, though it doesn't look like much in the pictures).
Any thoughts? Does one deal look better than the other? Are they priced well? I'm presuming I'll still have to buy additional equipment (along with supplies) beyond what I get for either of these, but figure if I can get a good start through CL then I'll save myself at least some money rather than starting out totally new!
Thanks in advance for the input :)
I'm completely new to the aquarium hobby, let alone salt water reef tank, but am thrilled to get started. I'm going to look at a few tank set-ups that I've found on Craigslist tomorrow and wanted to run them by you guys for feedback first! Ideally, I'm aiming to get a 75-90g tank with a sump and skimmer set-up, and that has proper lighting for corals so that I can try some of them down the road. I've read enough to know how important taking my time and getting the proper set up is to being successful, but feel pretty illiterate when it comes to the different brands/types of equipment!
Here's the first potential set-up for $550 (copied from CL ad):
This set includes: 90 gallon glass aquarium, canopy, stand, wet/dry filter system, emergency backup (Hurrican Category 5 model) air diffuser, 2 termometers, moon lighting (Blue light), floating hydrometer. Canopy light (replacement bulb needed). Also INCLUDED in this pice a 45 gallon hexagon tank. This is great for a medical tank. It comes with its own filter system (Marineland Penguin) and lighting system.
The second one for $400 (I can't find the ad right now):
75g tank with solid oak stand, hood, lights (no moon lights), sump (2 years old), 2 heaters & skimmer (1 year old), and some live rock (can't recall how many lbs, but the guy says he paid around $300 for the live rock, though it doesn't look like much in the pictures).
Any thoughts? Does one deal look better than the other? Are they priced well? I'm presuming I'll still have to buy additional equipment (along with supplies) beyond what I get for either of these, but figure if I can get a good start through CL then I'll save myself at least some money rather than starting out totally new!
Thanks in advance for the input :)